Inside The Viscount Who Loved Me

I went through three outlines for this book before I found a plot and premise that I felt worked. The story required Anthony’s father to have died about ten years before the book began, but in The Duke and I, which was completely edited (but not yet published), his father had died two years earlier. While doing the final proofread of The Duke and I, I had to go back and make all the changes. I was terrified that I would miss a mention!

Regular readers know that I love to include animals in my books. Newton, the overweight corgi, was modeled after Homer, a very friendly corgi who lived on my street. Corgis, while not an officially recognized breed in Britain until the 1920s, originated in Wales during the Middle Ages. Corgis are also very popular with the royal family. Queen Elizabeth’s dogs are “dorgis,” which are corgi-dachsund mixes.

If there is one scene (from any of my books) I hear about the most from my readers, it’s the Bridgerton Pall Mall game. And indeed, I enjoyed writing it so much, I brought everyone back for a rematch in the 2nd Epilogue to The Viscount Who Loved Me. But this famous scene almost never happened. I was about 2/3 into the book when I realized that everything seemed to be happening too fast. Specifically, Kate and Anthony seemed to have gone from dislike to admiration too quickly. I realized I needed to add a scene in which Kate realized that Anthony wasn’t such a bad guy, and the best way to do that would be to show him interacting with his family. And thus the Pall Mall game (and the Mallet of Death!) was born.

Speaking of Pall Mall, this was indeed the name for croquet at the time, or at least the closest thing I could find to it. I don’t believe that the rules were the same as they are today, but then again, I’ve never played croquet by the official rules.